ALAMOSA - An upbeat Scott McInnis bounded back onto the campaign trail here today, making his first public appearance since it was reported last week that large sections of "original" works published in his name were plagiarized.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate, along with his primary opponent Dan Maes, spoke about illegal immigration, water storage and Piñon Canyon at the Colorado Farm Bureau's mid-summer meeting.

None of the roughly 180 people in attendance publicly asked McInnis about last week's troubles, their focus instead on issues facing the agricultural community.

McInnis, who canceled a public event Thursday and did not appear at a GOP event with Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty Friday, spoke to the media afterwards, re-iterating that he was in the race for the long haul and jump-starting his campaign in southern Colorado.

"Do I look like I'm going anywhere? These boots are made for walking, and I'm ready to fight," he said to The Post, looking down at his brown cowboy boots.

He also addressed again the controversy surrounding articles he submitted to the Hasan Foundation as original works but which included whole pages and passages that were similar to or copied directly from a 1984 essay by now-Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory Hobbs.

"It was an obvious mistake. I stood up, took responsibility and moved on," McInnis said.

Left unanswered, however, is the question of who is responsible for the plagiarism.

McInnis blamed a Glenwood Springs water engineer who he said he hired to provide research.

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But the researcher, 82-year-old Rolly Fischer, said the former congressman was lying and said McInnis' campaign tried to make him sign a confession taking full blame for the lack of attribution, which he refused to do.

In the last week, several Republicans and newspapers in Denver, Grand Junction and Fort Collins have suggested McInnis should drop out of the race.

McInnis, who said he would repay the $300,000 he received from the foundation, said he spoke to its founder Malik Hasan last week, but declined to discuss the details.

McInnis also said he left a message for Hobbs last week but has not spoken to him.

Maes, saddled with his own problems ranging from campaign violations to a request from some former donors (who have since donated to McInnis) to return their money if he doesn't come clean about his finances, said he was releasing his tax returns to a conservative Colorado Springs website www.theconstitutionalisttoday.com today.

He called the request from previous donors "a publicity stunt to damage me."

Many of those attending the farm bureau's meeting said they had not decided which Republican candidate to support and were split over whether McInnis' plagiarism problems should impact their decision.

Dave Whitney, a rancher and former farmer from Logan County, said he is primarily concerned about the water Colorado is losing because there isn't proper storage.

"It's all just going down to the Gulf of Mexico," he said.

He hasn't decided which candidate to vote for in the primary because he likes both men. The plagiarism stories won't impact his decision one way or another.

"I discount it. I don't know that I know the facts of what happened," he said.

Connie Hass owns a ranch with her husband in Thatcher right across the street from the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site.

"I don't want any more land going to the federal government," she said about the Army's proposed expansion at the site.

She also doesn't know who she will back in the Republican primary, but as a school teacher she has reservations about McInnis.

"It's very difficult to tell my kids at school that you should vote for someone who did that," she said.

Taking questions from the audience, Maes and McInnis agreed on most issues. The two believed there should be a way for ranchers and farmers to use legal, seasonal immigrants. They both backed water storage projects, such as the Northern Integrated Supply Project, which creates new reservoirs near Fort Collins and Ault. And both supported less federally-designated wilderness areas and more multi-uses of forest land.

There was a division on the issue of Piñon Canyon, however. McInnis does not oppose the expansion, but said he does oppose eminent domain. No private property owner should sell unless he or she wants to, he said.

Maes, getting applause from the audience, said he will stand "firm against expansion if that's what you want me to."